Food Search MCP Terms of Use

Article 1 (Scope)

1. These Terms apply to the Service and all functions the Company provides with it, including the website https://mcp.fdb.software/, the MCP endpoints, the OAuth authorization screen, trial API key issuance, usage checking, and related documents.
2. If the Company and a User conclude a separate agreement on the use of API keys or other matters (an “Individual Agreement”) and it differs from these Terms, the Individual Agreement prevails.

Article 2 (Definitions)

1. “AI client” means ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or any other third-party AI application, agent, or developer tool that connects to the Service and calls it on a User’s instructions.
2. “Food data” means the names of foods, dishes, products and ingredients, nutrient values, classifications, manufacturers, indices, and other information provided by the Service, including information based on the IMD Food Database.
3. “API key” means an authentication string issued by the Company for the Service, including a trial API key.
4. “Public edition” means the part of the Service that can be used without an API key.

Article 3 (The Service)

1. The Service lets AI clients search, compare, and analyze food data through the Model Context Protocol (MCP).
2. The functions, item counts, call counts, token amounts, and other conditions available with the public edition, trial API keys, and API keys are as set by the Company on the website, in administrative settings, or in an Individual Agreement.
3. The Service does not provide the full ingredient composition, the number of ingredients, the exact amount or ratio of each ingredient, allergen information, JAN codes, or other information the Company designates as not provided. However, within the scope set by the Company, the Service may provide approximate amounts of the major ingredients (up to the top three by amount), rounded for the protection of intellectual property as reference values; these may differ from the actual amounts.

Article 4 (Changes to these Terms)

The Company may change these Terms in accordance with Article 548-4 of the Civil Code of Japan. In that case, the Company will announce the changed Terms and their effective date on this page. A User who uses the Service on or after the effective date is deemed to have agreed to the changed Terms.

Article 5 (API keys)

1. Users manage their API keys at their own responsibility and must not disclose, transfer, lend, or share them with any third party. Enter an API key only in an AI client’s secret field, the Food Search authorization screen, or an Authorization header.
2. Any use made with an API key is deemed use by the User to whom the key was issued.
3. If an API key may have leaked or been misused, the User must contact the Company immediately. The Company may suspend, reissue, or invalidate the key as needed.
4. A trial API key may be used until the end of its issue date in Japan Standard Time, within the call and item limits set by the Company.

Article 6 (Nature of the food data)

1. Food data are reference values based on the Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan, published product information, the Company’s calculation methods, and similar sources, and include estimates. They may differ from actual values because of the actual ingredients, portions, cooking methods, individual variation, product discontinuation or renewal, and other factors.
2. The wholesale cost index and other indices are relative reference indicators and do not represent prices, costs, or other amounts of money.
3. Answers, summaries, calculations, and recommendations by AI clients are generated by those AI clients, which may misinterpret, supplement, or miscalculate the food data. The Company does not guarantee the output of AI clients.
4. Before making an important decision, Users must check product labels, official materials, or other original sources themselves.

Article 7 (No medical or life-critical use)

1. Users must not use the Service or the food data (including information generated from them by AI clients) for any of the following purposes:
   1. diagnosis, treatment, prevention, or monitoring of disease or any other medical practice, or as the basis for such decisions;
   2. selecting, prescribing, dosing, or planning menus for medicines, medical devices, foods for special dietary uses, therapeutic diets, enteral or parenteral nutrition, and the like;
   3. managing food allergies, disease-related dietary restrictions or nutrition (kidney disease, diabetes, metabolic disorders, etc.), or any other decision in which an error may lead to harm to health;
   4. nutrition management directly related to maintaining the life or health of infants, pregnant or nursing women, older adults, sick or injured people, and the like;
   5. life-saving, life-support, or safety systems, operations, or decisions, or any other use that may seriously affect human life, body, or health.
2. Consult a physician, registered dietitian, or other professional about decisions on health, illness, and dietary restrictions.
3. The Company bears no liability for any damage arising from use of the Service or the food data in violation of this Article.

Article 8 (Prohibited acts)

When using the Service, Users must not:

1. violate laws, public order and morals, or these Terms;
2. infringe the intellectual property rights, privacy, reputation, or other rights or interests of the Company, other Users, or any third party;
3. place an excessive load on the Service’s servers, network, or upstream food database, or circumvent the call, item, token, or other limits set by the Company;
4. retrieve data exhaustively by automated means, rebuild a database by copying and accumulating food data, or retrieve data systematically to estimate or reverse-engineer information the Company does not provide (ingredient composition, ingredient amounts, etc.);
5. sell, redistribute, provide to third parties, or publicly transmit food data, or incorporate it into other products or services, beyond the scope permitted by an Individual Agreement;
6. obtain, share, resell, or impersonate API keys improperly, access the Service without authorization, or probe it for vulnerabilities without the Company’s prior written consent;
7. include your own or another person’s personal information (name, contact details, medical history, etc.) in search conditions, instructions to AI clients, or any other information sent to the Service;
8. present the Service or the food data as if they were the Company’s official view, recommendation, or guarantee;
9. modify, disassemble, decompile, or otherwise reverse-engineer software included in the Service;
10. remove or obscure copyright notices, source attributions, trademarks, or notices displayed by the Service;
11. use the Service for any purpose prohibited by Article 7;
12. do anything else the Company reasonably judges inappropriate.

Article 9 (Intellectual property)

1. Intellectual property and other rights in the Service, the food data, the IMD Food Database, software, website, documents, logos, and trademarks (including “Food Search”/「フードサーチ」) belong to the Company or their rightful owners.
2. Within the scope of these Terms, the Company grants Users a non-exclusive, non-transferable right to display and use the food data in conversations with AI clients and for their own business and personal purposes.
3. Publishing or providing food data to third parties requires permission under an Individual Agreement. This does not apply to publishing a small amount of food data within the scope of quotation under copyright law or as otherwise permitted by law; in that case, indicate the source as “Source: IMD Food Database (Food Search MCP)”.

Article 10 (Fees)

1. The public edition and trial API keys are free of charge.
2. Fees, payment methods, limits, and the like for use with API keys are as set out in the Company’s separate price list or an Individual Agreement.
3. The Company may change the content, call counts, and item counts of free functions or end free provision.

Article 11 (Changes, suspension, and termination of the Service)

1. The Company may suspend all or part of the Service without prior notice for maintenance, failures, suspension of the upstream food database, security needs, natural disasters, or other unavoidable reasons.
2. The Company may change the content of the Service or end its provision. When ending the Service, the Company will endeavor to announce it on this page or elsewhere with reasonable notice.

Article 12 (Suspension of use)

If a User violates these Terms, or if the Company reasonably judges that a User is likely to do so, the Company may, without prior notice, suspend or invalidate the User’s API key, restrict use from the User’s connection source, or take other necessary measures.

Article 13 (Disclaimer)

1. The Company does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, usefulness, fitness for a particular purpose, or continuous provision of the food data or the Service.
2. The Company is not liable for matters caused by AI clients (including their providers’ services, terms, and data handling), communication lines, or Users’ devices or software.
3. The Company is not liable for damage suffered by a User from using or being unable to use the Service, except in cases of the Company’s willful misconduct or gross negligence.
4. Even where the preceding paragraph does not apply under the Consumer Contract Act or other laws, the Company’s liability for default or tort caused by its slight negligence is limited to ordinary and direct damage actually suffered by the User, up to the amount of fees the User paid the Company for the Service in the month the damage occurred (zero yen for free use).

Article 14 (Personal information)

The Company’s policy is not to collect personal information in the Service; even paid-plan applications do not ask for personal names and take only the minimum information needed for an application from a corporation or organization. The handling of application details (including storage for acceptance and contract management, the receipt notice, and matching on the status page) and of communication records and other information technically recorded in operating the Service is set out in the Privacy Policy.

Article 15 (Notices and contact)

1. The Company gives notices to Users by posting on this page or the Service’s website, or by any other method the Company considers appropriate.
2. Inquiries about the Service are accepted through the Company’s contact form (https://support.imd.jp/form/). Select “食品データ/Food database” as the product and mention “Food Search MCP” in your message.

Article 16 (No assignment)

Users may not assign or pledge their position under these Terms, or any rights or obligations under them, to a third party without the Company’s prior written consent.

Article 17 (Severability)

If any provision of these Terms, or part of one, is held invalid or unenforceable under law, the remainder of these Terms continues in full force and effect.

Article 18 (Governing law and jurisdiction)

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Japan. The Tokyo District Court has exclusive jurisdiction in the first instance over any dispute between the Company and a User concerning the Service.

Supplementary provision

These Terms take effect on September 29, 2026.